I would start by leaving your lights on for at least 10h/day along with the natural sunlight.

Ideally you want 6500k or kelvin to get the proper color temp for the plants-we can see the light but the plants can't see all color temps to use for energy to grow/thrive.

Even with the proper color temp if the photoperiod isn't long enough-this can trick the plants into thinking its time to go dormant, die or finish their life cycle or flower.

If the substrate is too large in diameter-its hard for the plants to root and/or uptake the nutrients in the water, however, both species of plants you have are fine floating and rooted so that shouldn't be too much of an issues.

Can you post a pic...

i suppose i should have done a bit of research before trying out real plants. xp and yeah, i'll post pictures! i didn't know if you meant of the tank or the plants so i got some of both. i'll post them just as soon as i finish resizing them.

this is the tank. the only live plants in there are the anacharis and wisteria. the rest are fake and help block the filter intake that Bandit keeps getting stuck on. in the second picture is the tank's location in relation to the window.

above is the leaf of a wisteria plant that i pulled out today. it's not uncommon for me to get like four/five of these out in a week. and usually, i have to cut off the decaying part of the stems too, but i did that two days ago so i don't have pictures of that. also shown is one of my anacharis plants. it shows the brown/translucent tips of the leaves that i was talking about. all four of them look like this.

Is the gravel in your tank those larger glass marble things? That is what it looks like. If so, you should really replace it with a regular gravel at the very least, or if you think you may want to get into more plants, Fluval Shrimp Stratum is great (at least for me).

Is the gravel in your tank those larger glass marble things? That is what it looks like. If so, you should really replace it with a regular gravel at the very least, or if you think you may want to get into more plants, Fluval Shrimp Stratum is great (at least for me).

all i know about that light that it's a fluorescent light bulb replacement that i bought from Petco. it was like two/three dollars, so i doubt it was anything fancy.

and no, i have gravel AND marbles in the tank. they're kind of mixed together, but the gravel is black. both of them were also purchased from Petco.

First of all thats a great looking tank ! Yeah your Anacharis doesnt look to good up at the top where it should be the greenest and freshest since thats where new growth is. The only thing I know to tell your is check the wattage of your light and leave it on for 8 to 10 hours and then off for the night. Maybe you could try cutting off the top and see if you start getting any new growth. The leaves curl down towards the bottom so thats how you know where the end of the stem is thats you plant into the gravel. Good luck I hope it works out and the plants start doing better !

I have know about the other plants as I only have Anacharis and Hornwort.

First of all thats a great looking tank ! Yeah your Anacharis doesnt look to good up at the top where it should be the greenest and freshest since thats where new growth is. The only thing I know to tell your is check the wattage of your light and leave it on for 8 to 10 hours and then off for the night. Maybe you could try cutting off the top and see if you start getting any new growth. The leaves curl down towards the bottom so thats how you know where the end of the stem is thats you plant into the gravel. Good luck I hope it works out and the plants start doing better !

I have know about the other plants as I only have Anacharis and Hornwort.

thank you for the compliment! i've put a lot of money/effort into this tank (maybe not a lot, but more than i would have originally liked to have spent!) so it's nice to hear someone likes it. (: but as far as the light, i should leave it on even when it's daylight outside? because i'm trying to conserve energy so if i don't *have* to have something on/plugged in, i don't.

Nice job on your tank...It looks pretty......If you plan on adding any rosette type plants-like swords, crypts, sags, vals...etc....then you will need to change the substrate to a small diameter gravel or plant specific substrate.

Looking at your plants-it looks like a light or color temp issue and a photoperiod issues.....Increase the time the light is on to 10h/day-make 50% weekly water changes-vacuum in all areas you can reach without moving anything or disruption of plant roots-wipe the viewing walls only-give the filter media a swish/rinse in the bucket of old tank water a couple of times a month and if you have carbon in the filter media-I wouldn't replace that-
Careful with too much of the natural light until the plants start thriving and you add more-otherwise you can end up with an algae problem. Don't add any ferts until you start to see them responding to the increase PP-then use half dose after a water change.

Look at your partition between the light and water and make sure it is free of debris or remove it all together to get better light penetration to the plants. I would look around in the lighting dept of any store to see if you can find a Daylight 6500k florescent bulb that will fit in your hood-don't go over 10watts-double check your specks for the correct watts that will work on the hood too for safety reasons.

but as far as the light, i should leave it on even when it's daylight outside? because i'm trying to conserve energy so if i don't *have* to have something on/plugged in, i don't.

If you want to keep plants you are going to have to leave the light on-without light, proper color temp light and PP the plants can't photosynthesis and will slowly die.
You could move the tank over to the window and do a full natural planted dirt based tank-provided that you get at least 6-10h of sun, however, you will still have to supplement the light as the season changes and to complete the 10-12h/day PP...

With live plants its all about balance and proper lights-the plants have to be able to thrive to out compete the algae.

Nice job on your tank...It looks pretty......If you plan on adding any rosette type plants-like swords, crypts, sags, vals...etc....then you will need to change the substrate to a small diameter gravel or plant specific substrate.

Looking at your plants-it looks like a light or color temp issue and a photoperiod issues.....Increase the time the light is on to 10h/day-make 50% weekly water changes-vacuum in all areas you can reach without moving anything or disruption of plant roots-wipe the viewing walls only-give the filter media a swish/rinse in the bucket of old tank water a couple of times a month and if you have carbon in the filter media-I wouldn't replace that-
Careful with too much of the natural light until the plants start thriving and you add more-otherwise you can end up with an algae problem. Don't add any ferts until you start to see them responding to the increase PP-then use half dose after a water change.

Look at your partition between the light and water and make sure it is free of debris or remove it all together to get better light penetration to the plants. I would look around in the lighting dept of any store to see if you can find a Daylight 6500k florescent bulb that will fit in your hood-don't go over 10watts-double check your specks for the correct watts that will work on the hood too for safety reasons.

thank you for the compliment and for all the info! i was considering getting an amazon sword plant once i mastered how to take care of the easier plants, so thanks for telling me i'd need a different substrate!

If you want to keep plants you are going to have to leave the light on-without light, proper color temp light and PP the plants can't photosynthesis and will slowly die.
You could move the tank over to the window and do a full natural planted dirt based tank-provided that you get at least 6-10h of sun, however, you will still have to supplement the light as the season changes and to complete the 10-12h/day PP...

With live plants its all about balance and proper lights-the plants have to be able to thrive to out compete the algae.

i guess i'll start leaving the light on from when i leave in the morning until nightfall, then. i can't move my desk because there isn't a place for me to hook my TV up to the wall over there. oh well. i'll look for one of those Daylight bulbs that you mentioned when i go out this weekend.

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